Game Changer Profile

Lance Lee, Head of Litigation and Arbitration at Lee International IP and Law Group Read insights

Dispute resolution between companies has traditionally been viewed simply as a legal tussle in M&A processes. But what if the arbitration of the dispute itself could be innovated to actually trigger a competitive advantage for those companies in the market?

Lance Lee, Head of Litigation and Arbitration for the Lee International IP and Law Group, is a pioneer in turning the traditional legal headache of disputes into a growth driver. And the success of Seoul-based Lee International in doing so also brilliantly illustrates the Business Performance Innovation Network’s central message: that there is literally no space in which innovation cannot lead to competitive advantage.

A former US Army JAG officer and trial attorney who served with the rank of Captain, Lee now advises clients on key corporate M&As, contract negotiations, joint ventures, IP licensing, and infringement protection for multinationals. He has changed the game in this space by developing the “Dispute Innovation Practice,” which uses new M&A technologies and disruptive strategies to turn arbitrations into catalysts for growth, rather than inhibiting legal processes.

An expert in both corporate and public policy, Lee also co-chaired the AMCHAM Korea Government Procurement Forum, where he played a key role in identifying and promoting the needs of the foreign business community in government contracting processes. Previously, he served as General Counsel for STX Corporation based in Seoul. Lee is also Chairman of Republicans Abroad Korea – having been directly inspired by the values of hard work, public service and family from his father, John Yuen Lee: a poet-warrior who became a military hero – decorated by President Harry Truman – while serving as a liaison officer with the US Marines in the Korean War.

Lee says the US Marines essentially recognized a competitive advantage in his father’s values and even his love of poetry – of all things – in recruiting his courage and skills to the cause, and John Yuen Lee went on to play a critical role in the game-changing Battle of Chosin Reservoir. And so, for Lee, innovating corporate disputes for growth is not nearly as daunting a challenge as it may seem. Instead, in the words of his father’s favorite poet, T.S. Eliot, innovation can be understood simply like this: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”